A shocking attack, but Britain is no stranger to terror

The death toll in the Manchester Arena attack makes it the third deadliest terrorist atrocity on British soil, after the bombing of an airplane over Lockerbie in 1988 and the London bombings in 2005.

That the attacker went for the softest of soft targets – children and teenagers packed into the enclosed space of a pop concert – makes it all the more horrifying. As Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday morning, the attack “stands out for its appalling, sickening cowardice.”

MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 23: Walking casualties Vikki Baker and her thirteen year old daughter Charlotte hug outside the Manchester Arena stadium in Manchester, United Kingdom on May 23, 2017. A large explosion was reported at the end of a concert by American singer Ariana Grande. So far, police have confirmed 20 dead and over fifty injured in the explosion, now thought to be terrorist-related. (Photo by Lindsey Parnaby/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Related article Manchester Arena: 22 killed in Ariana Grande concert terror attack

Although Monday’s atrocity was particularly shocking in nature, Manchester and the wider United Kingdom have a long memory of terror attacks. For more than 30 years from the early 1970s, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a paramilitary group, carried out multiple attacks across the UK.

The deadliest were the Birmingham pub bombings of 1974, when 21 were killed. In 1996, the IRA detonated a massive 1500-kilogram (3300-pound) bomb in a Manchester shopping center not far from Monday night’s attack, injuring more than 200. The explosion destroyed buildings but a cast iron red postbox not far from the blast site remained unscathed; its image came to symbolize the resilience of the city.

Early on Tuesday morning, a picture of the same iconic postbox was shared hundreds of times on Twitter to represent how Manchester would once again remain steadfast in the face of terror.

From the IRA to ISIS

People in Manchester, England, gather in St. Ann's Square on Thursday, May 25. They were observing a national minute of silence to remember the victims of a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II speaks to 15-year-old Millie Robson and her mother, Marie, during a visit to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital on May 25. The Queen was visiting those injured in the attack.

A police officer guards a house in Manchester as investigations continued on May 25. Police say a man carrying explosives acted as a lone attacker and died in the blast.

Flowers and tribute messages are left for victims in St. Ann's Square.

A women sheds tears after observing the minute of silence in St. Ann's Square.

A Manchester road is closed off as police raids continued on May 25.

Local residents hold Manchester City and Manchester United soccer jerseys during the national minute of silence.

Police officers deliver flowers to a makeshift memorial in Manchester on Wednesday, May 24.

Women cry after placing flowers in Manchester on May 24.

A forensics team works at the scene of the explosion on Tuesday, May 23.

British Prime Minister Theresa May condemns the "callous terrorist attack" as she delivers a statement in London on May 23.

Police help someone after the attack at Manchester Arena on Monday, May 22.

People gather outside the arena. "We can confirm there was an incident as people were leaving the Ariana Grande show last night," police said on Twitter early on Tuesday. "The incident took place outside the venue in a public space. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims."

People receive medical attention at a railway station close to the arena. The incident happened shortly after Grande had left the stage, shortly after 10:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. ET) according to eyewitnesses. Calvin Welsford, an 18-year-old concertgoer, said that he heard a "loud bang" a couple of minutes after Grande's set had finished.

Paramedics respond to the scene.

Emergency workers and concert attendees gather outside the arena.

People stand by a cordoned-off street close to the arena.

Greater Manchester Police tweeted that emergency services were "responding to (a) serious incident at Manchester Arena. Avoid the area. More details will follow as soon as available."

People are escorted away from the arena.

People sit outside near the arena. The crowd was made up of mainly younger people who had come to see Grande in her first of three scheduled concerts in the UK.

An injured man is helped at the scene.

People hug near armed police who responded to the scene.

Deadly explosion at Ariana Grande concert

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For more than a decade, Islamist terrorism has overtaken Irish republicanism as the key threat for British security services. On July 7 2005, a cell of four British Muslim suicide bombers inspired by al Qaeda detonated devices on the London transit network, killing 52.

Since then, successive British governments have warned the public to be on alert for terror attacks, elevating the threat level to “severe”, the second highest alert. And the UK’s homeland intelligence agency MI5 has thwarted dozens of terrorist plots, mainly involving British-born would-be attackers.

Since 2013, attention has shifted to Britons returning from Syria who have been inspired by the terror group ISIS.

In March, Mark Rowley, the highest ranking counter-terrorism official in the UK, said 13 terror attacks had been averted in the past four years. In a sign of the challenge facing the authorities, Rowley said there were up to 500 anti-terror investigations active at any one time.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 23: Members of the public are escorted from the Manchester Arena on May 23, 2017 in Manchester, England. An explosion occurred at Manchester Arena as concert goers were leaving the venue after Ariana Grande had performed. Greater Manchester Police have confirmed 19 fatalities and at least 50 injured. (Photo by Dave Thompson/Getty Images)

Related article In their words: Witnesses describe horror of children attacked at concert

With the Paris attacks of November 2015 and the Nice truck atrocity of July 2016, British counter-intelligence officials were increasingly concerned at the prospect of marauding attackers or lone wolves using low-tech methods of guns, knives and vehicles to cause death and destruction – plots that are harder to infiltrate than those involving sophisticated explosives.

Those fears were realized on March 22 when Khalid Masood, a single attacker inspired by ISIS, drove into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge, killing four, before stabbing a policeman to death outside the House of Commons.

But the improvised explosive device used at the Manchester Arena shows that the nature of the terrorism threat in the UK remains wide-ranging.

Attack comes weeks before election

Related article Concert bombing victims: Eight-year-old girl among dead

It is also the first terrorist attack to have taken place during a British general election. The timing has echoes of the Madrid train bombings of March 2004 that had a direct impact on Spanish Premier Jose Maria Aznar’s defeat in the general election three days later, which was partly attributed to his handling of that atrocity.

Yet it is unlikely the Manchester attack will change the outcome of the June 8 election, which Theresa May remains on course to win. Politicians from all sides will be wary of trying to score political points, particularly as campaigning has been suspended. If anything, voters feeling fearful of terrorism may be inclined to stick to the status quo and back a party led by a Prime Minister who has a background as an authoritarian Home Secretary and has pitched herself as the “strong and stable” candidate.

While the nature of the attack and the age of the victims have caused national shock, politicians and religious leaders said the nation would be resolute.

The Bishop of Manchester David Walker tweeted: “Please hold the people of #Manchester in your prayers. We’ve faced terror attacks before and this latest won’t defeat us.”

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis wrote on Facebook: “The devastation of these attacks, both at home and abroad, is becoming all too familiar but so too is the remarkable resolve with which we react to them … When we are attacked by hate, we respond with love. Nothing and no one can divide us.”

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester who was a Home Office minister during the 2005 London bombings, said: “London pulled together in exactly the same way Manchester, in its own unique way, will pull together and will stand strong and will stand together. We are grieving, we are hurt today but we are strong and this city has dealt with difficult days in the past and we will do so now.”

Johnny Mercer, a Conservative politician and former army officer, said: “This is a cowardly act, the type of which we have tragically become familiar with over the last few years, although not often with the scale of tragic consequences of last night’s atrocity. We live in an inherently safe country, where our security and emergency services work around the clock to keep us safe; these individuals want to disrupt our lives and draw attention to their dreadful cause, yet the majority of the time we live in isolation from their activities.

“My thoughts are solely with the families of those killed, and those injured as they fight for survival and put their lives back together in the years ahead.”